Left Alone in the Dark
by Hirokioshi-F
Summary: He betrayed her, taking all that she knew and had and left her with nothing but darkness to cloud her world. Shibi/OFC
1. Chapter 1

**Please forgive me in having deleted the post and then re-admitting it.**

**Please review this very critically but with one postive comment.**

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><p>Lit candles filled the room with their luminous glow, covering any part of the shadows that wished to creep. The walls and floor were stone, portraits of deceased people were placed all across the wall, however there were no titles to name who they were. It was cold and very quiet, so quiet that it was deafening. Inside the room were two people, both very powerful and very dangerous.<p>

A man stood in the middle of the room, one that looked to have had seen many battles and had endured the hardships of war, his face was badly scarred, his hair dark and short, his auburn eyes portraying no emotion in them. He seemed to radiate an intimidating aura about him. He was short but muscular wearing a plain black _yukata_ a white sash around his waist tying a wooden staff to his side. In front of the scarred man was a kneeling woman, her dark long hair reached past her back and covered the full of her face like as if it were a mask. Her skin was a pale caramel, a long scar running down from the backside of her neck and alongside her back before crossing over onto her revealed stomach. She was clothed in a puffy multi-coloured green pants that reached a little past her knees, and a tight black shirt that ended just above her belly-button and had long sleeves that over-hung her hands.

The scarred man eyed her intently, studying her for a moment. Thinking through what he was about to say carefully.

"Chouko," he addressed her, his voice full of power and authority, and as soon as he did the woman known as _Chouko_ raised her head, bright blue orbs shining through the drapes of her hair struck his own auburn ones.

"Daisuke-sama," came her velvet reply, her voice holding a slight playful tone hidden in it, a small hidden smile appearing across her lips, "What is it that you need of me My Lord?" she asked. The man known as Daisuke reached into his inner robe and pulled out a small scroll and with a flick of his wrist tossed it over to Chouko. Examining her while she opened the scroll and read it, he watched for any signs that would point out her sudden change of characteristics, strangely enough he didn't find any.

"This mission is important. Your abilities will be most needed which is why I have suggested you. If you choose to accept this mission then I expect your job to go exceedingly well. _Failure is not an option_." He said in a warning.

"Since when have I ever failed?" she replied, looking up at him. He arched an eyebrow. "That was an accident so that doesn't count." Looking back at the scroll she ignored his narrowed eyes.

A small giggle passed her lips. "_Nani?_ Konohagakure needs the help of little ol' me?" A dark look suddenly appeared on her face, "_I don't think so._" Whether or not if he was affected by the sudden change in her attitude he didn't show it or either chose to ignore it. Instead he merely tossed her another scroll, one smaller than the other but of course equally important, or so she thought.

She looked at the scroll with a dull look in her eyes, her gaze drifting from the scroll to Daisuke and back again. Finally she opened the smaller scroll and read through it, and as she did her shoulders stiffened.

"But then again," she began quietly, "who am I to turn down such urgency? Alright then," the corners of her mouth once again turning upwards, "let's go kill some demons."

Rain poured down in the Land of forest, strong southerly winds picking up. At a large gate that was used for both entering and exiting the village stood five shinobi, the leading figure being the woman known as Chouko, her appearance slightly altered. Instead of her long hair hanging like drapes around her face it was pulled tightly back into twin buns, her face now covered by a multi-coloured green mask, pictures of thin branches with few leaves adoring it.

"_Butterfly-sama_," a gruff voice spoke using her codename. Chouko craned her neck around, glancing at the man who spoke. "We are ready."

Turning until her body was in exact alignment as the man, she allowed her eyes to linger over the group before her, studying them, analysing. They all wore identical clothing as one another, wearing a thin black t-shirt that fully pronounced their muscles from underneath the material, their pants a long navy blue and lastly a large black cloak that was left open despite the weather. Each had a mask similar to Chouko's, but with a different colour, and also carried their own specific weapon. The man who had addressed Chouko was tall and muscular, his hair a dark brown and pulled into a short pony-tail. His mask was a fiery colour, a large triangular sheathed sword made of pure steel strapped to his back. Directly behind him was a mountainous, deeply tanned man who loomed over all four of them despite being in a hunched position, any hair that was supposed lay atop his head was long gone, his mask was coloured with multiple colours of blue, a small backpack that was the size of Chouko's head was strapped tightly onto his back. On the large man's right was a tall- even more so than the first- lean man, whose hair was a dark navy blue that reached just passed his waist and was tied up nearest the tip, his mask of different shades of purple, what looked like to be a large over-sized senbon needle strapped securely to his back. Lastly was a smaller man that was neither tall nor overly muscular, his hair an auburn colour that spiked out in different directions, his mask was mixed colours of black and white, three scrolls strapped on both outer-sides of his legs.

Chouko nodded in what seemed to be some sort of approval before turning towards the gate once more. "Alright. Let's go!"

The five shinobi sped off into the thundering storm towards their current ally and enemy, Konohagakure.

For one day, the five forest shinobi had been running and for one night they carried on with the same speed they had started with. Originally it would take five days altogether, but time was of the essence.

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><p>Nightfall had fallen by the time they had reached two large village gates, the Konoha emblem etched in the middle of the arc. When they arrived they were greeted by a young woman. The woman had shoulder length black hair with bangs and dark eyes, clothed in a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and open toed sandals with low heels.<p>

"_Konichiwa, _my name is Shizune, Hokage-samas personal assistant. Judging by your attire I am guessing you are the ninja we requested. Please follow me to the council chambers." Shizune said.

It took them no less than three minutes before they were standing in front of a green covered double door, shouting being heard from behind them. Shizune turned to the five foreign shinobi and asked them to wait for her to address their arrival to the council, gave a small bow and turned around to enter the room.

A few seconds later, it suddenly became quiet, the shouting from behind the doors coming to an abrupt stop, it was almost as if there had never been any shouting to begin with. Shizune came back and gestured for the five to enter. Upon entering, the feel of a burning pair of eyes crawled upon Chouko's cloak covered skin.

On the wall straight ahead of the small group were portraits of the past Hokage's of Konohagakure. The council room was relatively large, a long table with unfilled seats with the exception of who Chouko assumed to be the Hokage with an old woman and man on either side of her. At the head of the table was a woman, her blonde hair pulled back into two low separate ponytails, a small violet rhombus in the middle of her forehead, clothed in a grass-green robe, underneath it was a grey closed blouse though it still didn't stop her sizeable cleavage from hanging out.

A tense silence filled the room, no one able to talk and barley able to breath. A few minutes passed before Chouko decided to break the silence.

"Got any sake?"

The once tense silence dropped and was replaced by one of stun, those present with either their mouths slightly agape or eyes slightly wide. " _Gomen-nasai_, I am sorry for such words. Between you and me I don't really like sake...but then again I don't hate it either." Ignoring the looks she was receiving, Chouko reached into her back pocket and pulled out the scroll that Daisuke had firstly given her and tossed it to the Hokage. The Hokage took it and looked at it confusingly.

"Daisuke-sama wrote a small reply at the bottom of the page, he of course wishes for you to read it. I'm not entirely sure what he has written but I have a good idea, so please try not to take too much offense." Chouko spoke with a bored tone as she watched the Hokage read the reply and her face go from calm to a dark smouldering look.

All eyes drifted between Chouko and towards the Hokage, not knowing what to take of the current situation. All were filled with curiosity of what the letter contained but none willing to ask. Looking as if she were struggling with words the Hokage let out a small breath of exasperation, before turning a stern face towards the foreigners.

"Very well then," the words passed through the Hokage's mouth regrettably, but knowing that they were short on time. "Let us review the situation." she began, "As you know the Temple of Azura was invaded by a group of rogue ninjas. There lies the Demon of Darkness, Azura. The group of rogue ninjas were somehow able to use some sought of reanimation jutsu and revive the demon, some of the monks that were able to survive from the invasion managed to give word to us about this but died soon after. Strange enough there weren't any signs or indications that showed us how they died. Aside from that, three villages have been affected from the demon and have been completely destroyed, we are lucky enough that the demons powers and health have not fully recuperated, but that hasn't stopped the path of destruction it left behind when passing. Unfortunately we have lost sighting of the demon and are unable to track it or the group of rogue ninja."

"We do not know _why_ the demon was summoned in the first place," said an elderly woman's withering voice on the left side of the Hokage, "Nor do we know _who_ were the people responsible for this."

An old man with light green spectacles spoke from the other side of the Hokage, "We do know however that we have to stop the demon and the rogue ninjas before it's too late. That is where you come in. We have heard of your excellent tracking skills and are in dire need of your assistance."

Chouko looked towards the ground for a moment in a thinking manner, a small '_hmmm'_ passing through her lips.

"Is something the matter?" the old man asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is." she replied.

"Oh, how so?"

" Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't your village already have excellent trackers of their own? If so, you should already be able to track down this threat by yourselves."

"Yes, we do have trackers already, however, for some reason they are unable to track them, no matter how excelled they are."

"Him, even so, the path of destruction the demon left should have been enough for you to follow."

"Yes, it would have been, but unfortunately it appears and disappears randomly in any random place. We have tried to link the places together to see if it forms some sort of pattern but to no avail."

"..I see." Chouko tilted her head thoughtfully. A long pregnant pause followed through until Chouko realigned her head. "With your permission I would like to have access to any information that you have collected, also any historic files that would give me a bit more information about Azura."

"Of course." the Hokage nodded. "Once this council is adjourned then my assistant, Shizune, will give you the documents you require. Right now I wish to discuss to you about what is currently happening and what will happen. Right now we have ninja assisting all the places that have been affected by the frontal force of Azura, we have medical ninja examining the deceased monks for anything that we may have over-looked. Your job is to find Azura and take that monster down." she finished with a firm voice.

"Understood." Chouko replied, "Once I have the information needed my squad and I will immediately take leave-"

"Not so fast." the Hokage interrupted. "You see originally, we had only asked for you and only your assistance. Those four behind you however," she gestured to Chouko's squad, "were nowhere near a part of what we had asked for. So you see, we have an issue here."

"I fail to see such issue."

"I have heard word of what your organization does and what they have done and therefore I am sure you now see the issue at hand."

"Enlighten me." the words coming out bitterly. Oh how she wished that the bimbo of a Hokage would just end this pointless talk and allow her to fulfil her mission. Chouko pretended to listen nodding every few seconds for effect, not catching a word the Hokage said.

"...which is why you will each be assigned to a team that I assign for you." she finished. Unfortunately Chouko had heard that.

Behind the mask, Chouko's eyes went wide before narrowing with anger. "Do we look like some sought of babysitter to you?" she spoke in a low voice, a hidden yet noticeable undertone within it.

A smirk appeared on the Hokage's face. "On the contrary, my shinobi are the ones who are, as you suggested yourselves to be, _babysitters."_

"You can't-" Chouko began but was interrupted.

"Oh but I can, you see the moment you accepted this mission you accepted any orders that were to be given by _me. _There will be three squads made up of four and another squad made up of five, so three of you will be placed in a separate squad from one another whilst the other two will form a squad of five."

"You speak all this as if you already knew about the extra presence I brought with me beforehand." Chouko accused.

"No, I am just very fast when it comes to preparing for the unexpected." Behind the Hokage her assistant's face seemed to do a small downcast of disbelief, suggesting to the masked woman that what she had said was a load of bull. "I will organize a squad for you each, it should be ready by tomorrow, right now I assume that you are all tired from your journey. Shizune take these four to the assigned apartment."

"Yes, My lady."

"Dismissed."

Shizune hastily walked towards the foreign shinobi and managed a small nervous smile, "Um, w-well then, let me go get the information and then show you to where you will be staying for the time being."

Shizune walked out the door gesturing them to follow her, but not before being stopped by the Hokage. "Oh yes, by the way."

Chouko twisted her head around, "What?"

"_Payback's a bitch_"


	2. Chapter 2

Chouko was silently seething. The group around her neither commented nor made any movements to comfort their more than displeased captain.

Shizune would glance back at the group behind her out of wariness. She had heard stories about their organisation and did not intend to join any of their victims that had so foolishly left themselves be open for any type of attack, let alone fall prey for being quickly double-crossed. Shizune couldn't help but wonder as to why she was the only one escorting the five, the Hokage, her master and friend had specifically asked for her to guide them, and- though she herself was wary- did gather anyone else to assist Shizune. Though a little clumsy, lazy and drunk her master could be, a fool she was far from.

_'Tsunade-sama would never have let me escort them by myself if she did not have a reason.,_ came Shizune's thoughts, _'I will put my absolute faith in her and trust that there is a perfectly good reason for this.'_ A small spark ignited within the woman and immediately her head lifted with pride and strength, her face full of determination. _'Tsunade-sama, I will not let you down. You can count on_ _me!'_

At last Shizune introduced them all to a tall quadruple building. A light summer coloured the walls of the building, windows lined with pure white wood. Along the top of the beautiful wooden oak door was a large billboard with the words, **_Welcome to 'Aiko's_ Castle'**. When they entered the building it was an astounding sight. A beautiful pond was in the back corner behind them, filled with many koi fish. Beautiful paintings adorned the wall, the floor was so clean that the reflection the group could be seen clearly without any fuzz. A small elderly lady, with thin grey hair tied up in a bun stood behind a counter desk, a small book in front of her. As they approached the desk Shizune began to introduce.

"Hello Emiko, I am terribly sorry about the lateness." Shizune apologized.

Emiko gave her a smile, gently taking Shizune's hands into her own, "Oh don't you go worrying for me now, dearie. I may not be as young as I use to be, but I am more than capable than missing my bed-time."

Shizune smiled back, "These are our guests," she gestured.

"Ah yes, I've been expecting you. My, my what a dashing young group we have here. Yes, yes very strong indeed," Emiko admired looking at the group, "and big too! My goodness! Oh, forgive me where are my manners? My name is Emiko, I am the current owner of _Aiko's Castle_. Though your time be short I hope it to be more than pleasant. Come now, let me show you to your dorms."

Emiko's warm tone immediately dispersed Chouko's foul mood and replaced it with amusement. This woman, whom Chouko could kill with just a small bat of the eye, was unafraid. She wasn't scared, cautious or even a little bit wary which was surprising. Surely the height and muscles- not to mention the weapons they carried- should of had her hesitating a little.

_'I like her'_ were the only words going through Chouko's head.

Emiko waved Shizune off, Shizune leaving reluctantly.

Guiding them to the second story of the motel, Emiko showed them to their door and told them, 'Should you ever need something I am on the first floor through the door next to the pond. Don't worry about the time or need just come through my door and ask me anything you like', and bid them all a good night's rest before departing them with a gentle smile.

The five foreign shinobi entered into their temporary abode the four out of the five set to rest as to replenish their strength and energy. Chouko seated herself on a small white cushion at what looked to be that of a small wooden table. The apartment that they were given was- in Chouko's standards- lavish, though not something she could find herself wanting to live in. Back in her own room only a small thin blanket in the middle of the room was there for her comfort, cornered in by three stone walls and a plain wooden door. The apartment was relatively large and very well furnished; three bedrooms with two futons in each were laid neatly across. The walls were decorated a beautiful blue with blends of white, the kitchen was small and yet large to some odd extent; beautiful white tiles shone with pride, all areas and corners avoid of any mould or dirt.

A hot tea nested in her hands, her mask placed to the side of her, long dark locks of hair once again draping her features. Red eyes narrowed through her dark locks, staring off into the distance in a faraway look before setting on the small file in front of her, a small pout across her lips. Her thoughts travelled back to the conversation of the Hokage's and hers, relishing in how much of a disliking she had to their- in her point of view- game. Everything was a game in Chouko's view, an endless game with multiple people, players. It was like a game of checkers. Where there were two sides with multiple chips at their disposal, having the ability to defeat each chip and in hopes make it to the other end of the board and become king, however it would always take patience as to read the others movements before formalizing a plan and only then would you win.

Shaking her head off of her current thoughts she moved to the current business at hand. Placing the tea to the side she grabbed the small thin file before her, containing what looked to be only three pieces of paper, and began to read through it, her eyes skimming over each individual slowly, as if trying to memorize word for word.

**_.…_**

As Chouko continued to read she peered closer at the piece of paper for the rest the words had long ago begun to fade away, leaving only subtle letters that Chouko could barely make out. Sighing with aggravation she placed the sheet of information down on the table and looked over at the one beneath it. It looked to be what Chouko assumed to be the Shadow Demon, Azura. The picture showed a rough sketch of it with a long body, large pointed scales coming out like spikes, a pair of glaring eyes glaring out at Chouko.

'_This is Azura,'_ she thought as a statement.

Closing her eyes she placed the picture back and put both her hands out behind her before leaning back and taking in the deafening silence. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours, and before long Chouko could hear the small faint chirping and small shuffles coming from the bedrooms, small rays of light beginning to seep through the gaps of the curtains. A shadow fell over her but she paid it no heed and instead continued to allow her own form of darkness to plague her thoughts.

"Butterfly-sama?" a small soft voice whispered faintly into her ears. Her eyes snapped open before glancing out the corner of her eye and to the small frame of her subordinate. A black and white mask faced her hair-covered face.

"You had better have a good reason for interrupting me, _Mime-san_," she spat, the younger ninja close to visibly flinching.

"Hai, Butterfly-sama. T-the-um- It is almost time to, w-well go, so I thought it um…." The young ninja trailed off.

Chouko took a moment to ponder her thoughts while leaning on her hands that were poised behind her back keeping her up-front. Seconds went by and the long-haired shinobi finally answered.

"You bothered me just for the sake of time?" Chouko questioned.

"Hai Butterfly-sama, Uh-no Butterfly-sama," he whimpered afraid of the piercing red eyes now staring at him maliciously. He was more than afraid of her, after all he was practically her prey to pick and feed on. It wasn't that he was disobedient, disrespectful or rude to her, it was just the plain fact that his captain just hated his guts. Had it been anyone else to interrupt her she would have just sighed in slight annoyance and allowed it to have been. Why he had he even bothered to interrupt her? Oh yeah, he lost rock, paper, scissors.

There was no indication that she had even moved, there was only the loud sound of a thud followed by crackling and groaning as the small body impacted against the colourless wall.

"You never learn do you," her voice like ice.

The boy only whimpered in pain.

"You will always remain a burden. Why you are here is a mystery to me. Anyone ever tries to teach you, it goes through one ear and out the other. You're a foolish little _boy_."

"I beg to differ, though young and foolish he may be, the boy has certainly learnt a lot more than expected," the blaze-coloured masked man intervened. "Perhaps it is you that never learns, Butterfly-sama."

Chouko avoided his masked gaze but turning her attention to her short trimmed nails, lower lip in a small pout.

"Have I offended you?"

"Yes, Blaze-Chan you have. Why must you always do that to me? I'm starting to believe you enjoy ridiculing me."

"My sincerest apologies," though his tone proved not.

"Well aren't you sweet."

"If I could, I would laugh at that statement."

"Why?"

"Because usually I'm a dick."

"Hmm, it's quite a pity actually. Just because you are a dick doesn't mean you actually have one. Were you born as a hermaphrodite Blaze-chan? Actually you know what, don't answer that I already know the answer is yes."

"If I may," the multi-purple masked man piped up, his voice calming and gentle, "I wish to point out that while I do enjoy the luxury of this conversation, we should probably be headed on our way to the village gates by now as was instructed by Shizune-san."

"Karma-san is right. It is now time to take flight."

"A true poet you are Blaze-chan."

"Many thanks Butterfly-sama."

Behind the group, still etched into the wall, Mime gradually wedged himself out before standing silently behind the group.

"Now then, let us leave," Chouko said, reaching her mask and standing upright, "I am most eager in meeting our new _comrades_."

One mask was fitted on a pale face.

Five bodies disappeared without a trace.

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><p>An odd mood was felt in the air, it wasn't what one would call tense or uncomfortable but then again it could barely be called pleasant either. In front of the village gates stood the foreign ninja, along with four leaf shinobi, each ninja staring at the stranger in front of them.<p>

Across from Chouko stood a boy with messy brown hair, pronounced canine teeth and black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, both his brows were scrunched and his eyes shone deeply with displeasure giving her the sense that he wasn't so happy with the arrangements of the squad members. Chouko tilted her head and trained her blue orbs onto the large white dog that stood proudly by his side.

On either side of the duo stood two more nin. A blond headed teen with deep ocean blue eyes with three whisker-like marks on each cheek, his arms around the back of his neck. To his side was a tall pale male, with short black hair and dull coloured eyes, a small smile across his face. To the other-side were two young females, one with pale lavender eyes and long deep purple hair. Chouko didn't give her more than a second glance, already deciding this girl would be the weakest of them all.

'_This girl just radiates innocence!_' The thought was bitter as a scorning look passed over Chouko's face, '_Doesn't take a genius to know she'll stay a virgin for the rest of her miserable life._' If it was one thing Chouko truly despised it was a female unable to protect herself.

A tall lean woman with short pink hair attracted Chouko's attention the most, while at most it was because of her coloured hair but also rather because, well, Chouko wasn't really sure why, her head once again slanted, her eyes raking over the pink teen with such intensity that the pink girl could feel it burn into her and shivered noticeably.

Breaking the stare Chouko's eyes began to burn with scorn, finally understanding what the Hokage had meant when saying, _"Paybacks a bitch."_ Five teens who were Genin level- heck, barely even Academy students- compared to her were her supposed 'baby-sitters' as the Hokage would say. The Hokage had insulted her by allowing mere children to act as her _partners_, as her _commanders_!

'_Daisuke-sama you lousy piece of shit, wait 'till I get my hands on you, you worthless good for nothing rat-bastard!' _Chouko's rage could be felt by both sides.

Neither side said anything for a while, but when one did it was the tall pale teen who did, smile still ever present upon his face despite the foreboding silence. "Greetings, it is a pleasure to meet you," he began, "My name is Sai. I do so hope that we can become very good friends."

"Where are the rest?" Chouko asked impatiently, disregarding his words.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"If memory serves correct, I am fairly certain that my subordinates and I were supposed to be placed in separate groups from one was to be three squads made up of four and another squad made up of five, so three of us were supposed to be placed in a separate squad from one another while a single pair of us were to form a squad of five. There are currently five of you- six if you include that mangy mutt of yours," Chouko gestured to the tattooed man, "There's barely enough for two squads."

"Unfortunately there weren't enough people in the village that we could use for this type of field work," said the pink-haired kunoichi. "Most of our fellow comrades are either out on their own missions or are otherwise needed here in the village to support the village in case of an attack. However, our Hokage has sent word to our outside shinobi that they will be accompanied by one or two of you. For now, all of us will travel together as a single squad and gather any form of information on our way to the Land of Tea, where we will meet up with your actual squads."

"The Land of Tea was the last place Azura was last seen at and so far the last place he managed destroy. They're lucky that at the time it was during the springs festival, so practically everyone had gone to the neighbouring that the festival had taken place at." the tattooed boy said, his comrades nodded in agreement.

"It'll take a day's trip, due to the roads and bridges having been destroyed. During our journey we will be able to gather some Intel seeing as we will be passing affected villages on our way. Regardless of the information, even the description of what one of the civilians might have felt at the time will give us a lot more information on this Azura character."

Chouko listened intently to every word, making small notes here and there.

"I see," Chouko tuned. "Hmm..."

"Is something the matter?"

"No. Not really."

Sakura's brows drew together.

"Are any of you good in bed," Chouko asked the pale boy.

For a moment Sai's smile slipped off his face, confused about her words and slowly began to think the words over to understand what she was referring to. His comrades however were just in blatant shock, not quite believing what she had said. After a while of thinking Sai turned serious and answered with absolute confidence in his voice-

"Yes, I do believe this to be so. As a matter of fact I would have to say we are all more than adequate in bed. I observed so myself that my comrades never looked troubled nor spouted out anything incoherent or done anything that would badly effect another, in conclusion I believe this is most definitely so as they almost always wake up looking more than….hmm, how would one put it, satisfied."

The group on either side of him were giving individual looks of shock and disbelief.

"Just wondering," she shrugged. "I am referred to as Butterfly." She gave a small nod towards her group.

Instinctively knowing what the meaning behind the nod meant, they each began to name themselves off.

"You will refer to me as Blaze." The strong commanding voice of the yellow blazed mask said, practically demanding absolute obedience.

"I am known as Karma, my dear younglings." A calm floating voice came from the purpled-masked man. Lifting a glove covered hand he gestured towards the still hunched figure of the over burly man with a blue mask. "This here is Blue. He doesn't talk much." Karma answered the young teens' unasked question.

"I'm Mime, um, I hope we um-yeah…" Mime trailed off, shifting from foot to foot.

"Would you mind telling us your own names?" Karma asked politely.

"Well of course! Hi there," the pink-haired girl said with an eye-closed smile, "My name is Sakura Haruno, Medical ninja in training."

"Kiba Inuzuka," the canine-like boy said, "and this big canine right here is my partner Akamaru." The dog gave a loud bark in acknowledgement.

"Hello there, my name is Hinata Hyuuga." Pale lavender eyes looked innocently at the foreign group.

"And I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" The blonde-haired yelled with a large big grin on his face. "But I bet you already know that, after all who wouldn't recognize a super-cool hero like me?"

"…Doesn't Naruto mean fish?"

The grin dropped off of Naruto's face, now looking torn between either being dumbfounded or just plain pissed, his comrades looking more amused than anything. Before he could say anything Chouko pushed past both groups and reached the outside of the gate.

"I'm getting bored already, let's go," Chouko whined.

"You speak the truth Butterfly-sama," Blaze spoke, "Enough with the pleasantries. We need to finish this mission within the given time limit."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Naruto shouted, anger rising in his voice, "What gives you the right to boss _us_ around?"

"Naruto's right." Kiba agreed, "We don't follow your orders, you follow ours."

The leaf nin could feel waves of anger rolling off of the odd woman, obviously directed to them all, her hands twitching and curling as if wanting to struggle the whole lot of them.

"I do not answer to children." Her response was quick an firm.

"Well you do now." Naruto snapped.

"Hmph, well it's nice to know you do not deny that you _are_ mere brats."

"Hey you-!"

"Easy Naruto," Sakura warned, laying a hand on his shoulder in a resort to calm him down.

Naruto turned his head away and began mumbling incoherent words under his breath.

"Not meaning to sound as if I am choosing sides or anything, but I do believe that Blaze-san is most correct in our needing to leave," Sai stated.

The others gave a murmur of agreement while Naruto just glared, already disliking these foreigners, particularly the one with the multiple green on her mask, he disliked her the most.

"Alright then let's go. Hinata, you and I will take the lead. Sakura; you'd be best to stay in the middle with our friends over there. Sai and Naruto; both of you can take the back." Kiba ordered, "Alright, let's move out. Our destination is two days away."

"Right!"

Naruto, whose foul mood had quickly dissipated from the turnover of subjects, gave a feral grin.

"Just you wait Azura! We're coming to get you!"

"Obviously you haven't heard a word of what's been said. We're supposed to be gathering information that could help us solve some, or at the most any of the hidden mysterious of Azura. We are not supposed to be fighting if we can at all avoid it."

Naruto's shoulders sagged.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review critically.<strong>

**Characters: The foreign ninja along with Emiko and Azura belong to me. The rest belong to Masashi Kishimoto, creator of _Naruto_.**


	3. Chapter 3

Over a four hour walk made the two groups of shinobi journey to a small remote village on the outskirts of the Land of Tea. It had been an awkward journey, the leaf ninja nervously talking to one another whilst trying to forget the silent shinobi from behind them. They could all feel the strange aura emitting from them all; a cold, dark, foreboding aura that caused a cold wave of dread to wash over them. None of them felt safe.

When they managed to get to the remote village most of them were stunned with shock. Houses were burnt and turned to rubble, the smell of ash lay heavily in the winds- a sure sign that this had been recent, large indented footprints covered the ground, and the long river that was once fresh and filled with the life of fish that bordered along the village was now broken from its straight aligned form due to a large footprint having stamped itself in the middle of the river; a large pooling hole having formed, dirtied with the carcass of fish that had been poiosoned by all the ash and pollution that had fallen in, their bodies floating ominously ontop the surface, though all had a suspicion that not all of the carcasses were just poisoned fish.

Before the attack there had been a mining incident and most of the villagers had gone to investigate and carry medical and any other supplies that may have been needed in case of any injuries or such. When they had gotten there the miners were only injured but not as severely thought, much to their relief. _A slip of a pitch at the wrong place_ a villager had said, _Lucky all of __'em escaped with their lives._ By the time they had all gotten back their village was in ruins; bodies of the few that remained behind had been flung across the village, burnt to a crisp or shredded. It was strange as none of them had felt or heard anything as their village had been annihilated.

So far the villagers took refuge at the northern caves, a safe place in case of a similar event to what had happened should occur. A few of the villagers had come back, trying to salvage what little they could from the remains of their homes, most in quiet mourning while others were far too stunned to do anything but salvage in a zombie-like response. Hinata, Sai and Sakura had gone to speak with the civilians, asking them questions 'if they were here at the time and if so what they could identify of the demon', but unfortunately they had all been at the mining incident and those who were there at the time had all been killed.

"You're certain no one else was here at the time?" Sakura asked the woman before her desperatley. She was a stunning lady with long brown hair that went to her waist. Her large green eyes filled with sorrow stared down at her hands that rubbed her slightly bulging abdomen.

"I know what you're thinking, that we are probably hiding someone who was here at the time of the attack for fear of their safety, but I can honestly tell you that there is no one." The woman said sorrowfully, her voice beginning to crack, "And like told you before, those who were here at the time perished at the hands of that monster. I know it's true because my husband was one of them," she broke off into sobs. "My husband and father of my child is gone!"

If it weren't for Sakura's quick reflects the woman would have fallen to her knees in the filth of ash.

"Easy, now," Sakura tried soothing the woman who sobbed heavily in her arms. Not knowing what to say or do she tried her best in comforting the woman with small tender strokes to the woman's back, whispering what she hoped were comforting words. Looking over the woman's shoulder she saw that neither Sai nor Hinata were better off than she. Hinata herself was slowly becoming overwhelmed with tears as the young man she had begun questioning was weeping himself, his small pale arms wrapping tightly around his waist, body trembling with anguish. The elderly couple with Sai were holding one another tightly as if afraid that should they let go the other would be snatched away from their grasp. The look in Sai's eyes mirrored Sakura's own expression.

Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru had made it their duty to help the survivors try to salvage through their destroyed homes and did what they could to comfort them all the best they could. Chouko and her subordinates had circled around the village, trying to find any detail that could give them more insight on the matter. Karma had paired off with Blue, circling around the perimeter for any outside clues, searching through and from the branches of the remaining standing trees that circled the village similar to a fortress. Blaze paired off with Chouko helping to search through the insides of the village, looking through the rubbles quickly but thoroughly, their only form of communication through small gestures with their hands and affirmation or denial with their heads. Mime was by himself; not wanting to get in the way he sat at the edge of the once beautiful river, staring at the corpses that floated on the surface, trapped from the blockage of fallen trees. Luckily enough the river had stopped flowing due to more destruction of Azura, had it not stopped the river would have overflown and the blood and corpses of both fish and humans would have soaked the already tainted land.

Mime found it ironic and almost sickening how the weather had been perfect the entire day, the bright blue sky clear of any lingering clouds, warmth blanketing the air as strokes of wined fanned down the non-wanted heat, birds singing contently in high-perched branches. It felt as if the Gods held nothing towards the villagers' misery; no remorse, no sympathy. Nothing.

"Something bothers you youngling," the voice of Karma stated from behind.

Mime jumped with fright but other than that didn't move or respond, only continued to stare out at the open. From the large overbearing shadow behind him he could tell that Blue was beside Karma; though it wasn't really something he needed to help him hint towards the fact that he was there as it wasn't uncommon seeing as the two were always together.

"Voice the thoughts that plague your mind," Karma continued, "It may prove to do you well."

Mime stood and turned towards the pair, knowing that Karma would have disliked it should he not when answering; Karma was all about mannerisms and etiquette. Karma laid a soothing hand on his shoulder, instantly calming Mime of his nerves and his habit of stuttering. He told Karma how he thought it ironic and almost sickening of how the weather had come out to and displayed itself, how the Gods held nothing for what had transpired through the village. Through it all Karma listened to every word calmly, nodding in what Mime took to be encouragement as to keep him talking. When Mime had finished he waited patiently for Karma to mull through what he had said.

"You believe that the weather is a mockery to those of the deceased? A mockery of how this village was s_upposedly destroyed_?" Karma questioned.

Mime was about to nod but quickly caught himself as he thought on what Karma had just said. Behind his black and white mask his face was scrunched in confusion; he tilted his head slightly to the left to mirror his confusion through body language.

"Please follow me youngling."

Mime nodded his head and before he knew it his shoulders were encased with Blue's large hands guiding him towards Karma's side, Blue slipped quietly behind the two at a close distance once Mime was fixed beside Karma. The trio stolled directly into the village centre.

"Look now at the village around you, Mime-san, and tell me what you see." Karma gestured with an elegant wave of an arm.

"I see broken and burnt houses reduced to nothing but rubble and ash. Why do you ask such a question Karma-sama? Do you see something different to what I see?" Mime asked genuinely curious.

"No. I see exactly what you have said."

Mime waited for Karma to continue but when it was obvious that he wouldn't Mime spoke instead.

"So you see a destroyed village just as I have said. Though your words from before indicated as if the village was not destroyed. I am very confused Karma-sama."

"Before you said that you saw- and I quote; _'__broken and burnt houses reduced to nothing but rubble and ash__.__'"_, not once did you use the word _destroyed_ and even should you have, you were only focused on the houses themselves. Not once were you referring to the village as a whole. Why?"

Mime was at a lost, "Well, um, I g-guess-"

Karma raised a hand to stop the now stuttering boy. "Speak until you have collected your words."

"…So the village is not destroyed is that what you are saying?"

"No, this village is not."

"What?"

The surrounding villagers who had overheard the duo's conversation dropped what they had and began to close in closer towards them, curious as to where this was heading, a small spark of hope confusedly igniting within them all as they continued to listen non too discretely.

"The houses are destroyed yes, but buildings do not make up a village. It is the people."

The villagers, shinobi and Mime were all taken aback.

"Buildings can be rebuild, and as the hopes and faith of the people may have dimmed it can once again flame with strength, it is the matter of how and when it will happen. You also said that the Gods held nothing in what had transpired here. In my point of view, I believe you have misjudged the entire situation. Have you not thought of the possibility that this day is in representation of rebirth? A sun that shines warmly on those who are in misery as to comfort them like a warming hug, a clear blue sky that tells all to clear their own minds of sorrow and instead show the bright rays of hope that is there. I ask of you now youngling, that if you do not have faith in your Gods, then have- at the least- hope."

Mime gazed up at Karma, the sickness he had once ago had dissipated bit by bit by every word that had spilled out of Karma's mouth until none was left.

"I ask you once again youngling; will you at the least carry hope within you once more?"

Mime slowly nodded, "Y-yes…Yes, Karma-sama."

Karma laid an appraising hand on the young boys head, albeit almost cautiously, one of two of the only type of physical contact he had ever allowed on a person, who was more or less Blue and himself.

The leaf ninja couldn't help but smile along with the villagers as they watched the entire exchange between the two.

Leaning against the charcoal remains of a door from afar with their arms crossed, Chouko looked boringly at the entire entity of the display, wanting nothing more but to leave and carry on with her true mission. Behind her Blaze eyed the woman, expression covered by his mask.

"Your thoughts Butterfly-sama?" Blaze asked.

"…What a waste of my precious time," she spat. "We call the little shit _Mime_ and yet he can't shut the hell up! Because of him I had to listen to that stupid speech of Karma's!"

"Even after all these years it still surprises me on your level of hatred that you hold for the poor boy."

"He is not a _poor boy_ as you so naively suggest Blaze-chan, nor is he the innocent child that everyone sees. He is a burden, a nuisance, a weakling!" she growled.

"A thorn in your side?"

Blaze chuckled darkly, moving until he was but a millimetre behind the red-eyed woman, running a hand up and down the spine of the woman's back. Chouko could feel the smirk that spread across his lips as she was unable to suppress a shudder that ran throughout her body. Chouko looked over her shoulder at him and although her expression was covered he could sense that she wasn't happy with his action.

"Come now my dear Butterfly-sama, don't be mad. You weren't like this a few months ago now were you?" he purred.

"Seducing your leading commander Blaze-chan? Have you no shame?" Chouko giggled maliciously. "Can't say I'm complaining though, you do make for an excellent _stress relief_."

Unfolding her arms she reached out behind her and ran her hands up and down his chest in soft strokes only to begin adding her nails and digging them into his covered skin as she continued to trail her fingers up and down. Blaze quickly grabbed the back of her neck with a firm grip and despite practically being choked from behind, giggles continued to erupt from Chouko's chest. Returning her hands to her side she continued to look at Blaze from over her shoulder whose masked-covered face was touching her own.

"What a masochist you are, my venomous butterfly."

* * *

><p>Silence consumed the trip, an air of tension still hanging around the two groups. It had been a couple of hours since they had left the village and yet neither group had been able to engage any form of interaction, though no one was against that. Before they had left they mulled over the information they had collected, discussing it together. Sai had written a letter and had sent it off to the Hokage to inform her of the circumstances the village was in and the little information they had gathered.<p>

The light thudding of wood against their feet and wind passing through them gave a steady rhythm and slowly as more time passed released some of the heavy tension. The sun having set by the time they decided to camp for the night; no words having been said, only a few nods of indication. A small fire had been built in the middle of the small built tents, the five Konoha ninja huddled around it along with the -surprisingly enough- foreign shinobi.

Wary eyes crossed over each shinobi, a few words being lightly spoken to their own comrades before going back to nibbling at the cooked fish in their hands. It wasn't until they had once again elapsed into silence that the pink haired kunoichi took it upon herself to suck it up and start the first verbal conversation all of them could participate in.

"So how's the fish everyone?" Albeit it wasn't exactly a good starting-point, it was a starting point nonetheless.

"It is most satisfactory, Sakura-san," Sai replied with an eye-closed smile. Turning to Hinata he relayed the same question to her.

"It's very delicious, thank you for asking," Hinata replied with a small smile of her own. She turned to Naruto and Kiba, "What about you two? Naruto-kun? Kiba-kun?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah it's really nice," Kiba grinned, thankful for the conversation start up. Silence wasn't really his get-go but he had no idea how he would have started a full on conversation around the strange masked shinobi. There was something off about them that made him cautious, and that large hulking man, Blue as he had been called, didn't help ease his nerves. "I gotta say, with my Ma always cooking this is practically a gourmet feast I'm having," he chuckled along with his friends, stroking his large companion's back, only to stop as a loud rumble erupted from Blue's chest and Kiba had a feeling that it wasn't from hunger or laughter.

Blue's fists were clenched tightly around his own fish, the crunching of bone being apparent. Kiba's face took on a nervous approach as he had a feeling he said something he shouldn't have but slightly relaxed as Karma laid a hand on the massive being, rubbing his massive shoulder in what seemed to be reassurance which in turn caused the giant to relax.

Not wanting to reel in another round of silence so he could focus on his nervousness, Kiba carried on with the conversation, albeit still with a hint of nervousness.

"What about you Naruto?" Kiba was met with silence.

"Naruto?" Kiba shifted his whole body to Naruto feeling concerned about his surprisingly quiet friend. "Hey Naruto you ok there?" he asked concernedly as watched Naruto stare at the uneaten fish.

Naruto's eyes were staring inquisitively into the eyeless fish holes, both brows nearly touching another. Murmuring passed through Naruto's lips.

Kiba frowned, "What'd you say?"

Naruto murmured more loudly.

It was Sakura's turn to frown, her brows furrowed in frustration, "Speak up Naruto, none of us can hear you, let alone speak mumble!"

"If I eat this does this make me a cannibal?"

His friends just blinked before speaking out their confusion. Repeating what he said, Naruto began to turn the fish over and over as if memorizing every detail of the cooked fish. It took them all a while to grasp what he meant.

"Oh Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered woefully.

"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura screamed bonking him harshly on the head.

"Ow! Sakura-chan, why'd you do that?" Naruto rubbed his now aching head, "That hurt."

Sighing with a shake of the head, Kiba placed his head in the cup of his hand, "Just because your name is in relation to a fish doesn't actually mean you as a person are a fish." Akamaru barked in agreement.

Recovering, Naruto let out a low 'Oh'.

Sai placed a hand on his chin, thinking about the ideal, "Although it wasn't a very bad thought. Having similar traits to a fish could certainly lead to cannibalism. Like humans eating monkeys or gorillas, after all, we do share a similar genetic code-"

"Shut up Sai!" Sakura yelled, whacking him atop the head. Giving a sigh of frustration she turned to the quiet shinobi before her. Their masks were pushed slightly to the side, barley enough to show their mouths, although the one she had come to know as _Butterfly _had hers fully off, her long night-sky hair veiling her face instead. From the flicker of fire lights she Sakura could see a hint of red and quickly became absorbed into them, feeling as if her gaze was forever transfixed.

"Are you attracted to me, by any chance?"

Breaking her stare, Sakura's ears began to tint with red. Being far too embarrassed to come up with a quick excuse from having been caught staring, Sakura was only able to make out a few stuttered words that lead to no complete sentence at all.

"Not that I mind or anything," the black-haired kunoichi shrugged, "After all who wouldn't like this?" Gesturing towards herself for effect, a few of her subordinates shaking their heads.

"I-I'm sorry! I u-uh d-don't…" Sakura trailed off with a nervous laugh, she tried to say something else but was stopped by Karma holding his hand up to stop her from speaking. Sakura remembered the same gesture he had done with Mime.

"Continue speaking once you have gathered your words." He said.

Sakura nodded nervously and tried to think of what she had to say. "I was wondering how the fish…was?"

"Is that a question directed towards yourself or towards us?"

"Um, you sir..." Sakura trailed off once more.

"The food is quite pleasant, a nice change may I add." Karma looked towards Blue for a moment, Blue nodding his massive head towards him, and then turned back to Sakura. "Blue is thoroughly enjoying his meal."

Naruto blinked confused, "But the big guy didn't even say anything…oh I get it! Your one of those telephonists people aren't you? You know the ones who can read another person's mind," Naruto shouted gleefully.

"No youngling, I am not, and I do believe you mean telepathy, not telephonists." Karma said with a hint of amusement in his voice as Naruto continued to grin.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's quite alright."

Carrying on Sakura's question, Naruto turned to the youngest of the group. "What about you?"

"M-me? Oh, um, well I find it very tasty indeed. I thank you for asking." Mime fiddled a little with his fish.

"You're a shy one aren't ya?"

"Oh!" Mime exclaimed in a panic, "Forgive me I didn't mean to offend you or anything!"

"Hey, hey, easy partner. Take a chill pill." Naruto chuckled causing Mime to look at him shyly. "You didn't offend me at all, sorry for making you think I did."

"Oh, um it's quite alright." Mime said a little shocked, but slowly behind his mask a small smile began to appear across his lips, his body relaxing and his worries gone. Mime couldn't help but notice how this Naruto's personality was slightly contagious.

"Well that's good," Naruto continued to grin. "What about you two? Umm, Blaze and Butterfly was it?"

"I found no dissatisfaction with what I have consumed," Blaze replied smoothly.

"Eh." The dark haired woman shrugged.

The cackling of fire wove its way through and out Naruto's ears, his smile dropping a fraction. _'__It's gonna be a long __night__.__'_

"Not to be prying into your business or anything but, uh, what village do you guys come from?" Kiba wondered, "Unless it's confidential then don't worry, forget about it."

"You're kidding me. You mean to tell me that your Hokage didn't tell you where we're from? Wait did she even tell you anything about us, anything at all?" Butterfly questioned.

"No she didn't." Sai answered. "All that was said was we were getting new teammates for a limited amount of time before you were to be transferred to another group by the time we made it back to the Land of Tea. That and what the mission entailed along with some advice."

"Let me guess, the advice was,_ be careful_ and _watch your back for the newcomers_ or something along those lines, right?"

Sai's and the groups silence was a loud enough answer for her.

"Don't worry," Butterfly purred, "We're not offended or anything. Not like her advice isn't gonna be helpful or anything." she broke off into giggles.

Naruto's grin fell from his face and mirrored the rest of his group's expression; wariness, mistrust and caution.

"Butterfly-sama, you're scaring them." Blaze reprimanded. "Where we come from isn't classified but it's not exactly broadcasted to the whole world, however I have a feeling that you will find out regardless of our telling you. We come from the Land of Forest."

"I've heard of that place," Hinata added shyly. "Your village is on the outskirts from the far east of the Land of Rice Paddies."

"That is correct. Though I am surprised one such as you knows of our village. I mean that in no offence, purely you being of a younger generation and having even a small amount of knowledge of our village astounds me."

"Back home, we have a large variety of books. One of the books I had been reading through mentioned your village."

"I see. What book was it?"

Hinata placed a hand underneath her chin, "Hmm, I'm afraid I can't remember."

"That's alright, though if you do remember by some odd chance, I am still curious as to know which book."

Hinata nodded.

"This game of 20 questions is boring!"

"Well what do you want to do? Spin the bottle?" Kiba rolled his eyes at the moaning elder woman, the woman clearly getting on his nerves and Kiba was certain it wasn't just his nerves either.

Disregarding the sarcasm the elder woman gave a thoughtful look. Clicking her fingers she said, "Stories! Oh I love listening to stories."

"Butterfly-sama I do not think your type of stories would be enjoyed by anyone," Blaze said slowly, cautiously.

"And why not?" she snapped.

"Because the stories you enjoy are always about rabbits and magical unicorns trying to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." He replied.

"I don't care, I want to hear it!" she yelled stubbornly, her fists tightening around the fish.

Blue reached over behind her and began to rub her shoulders with his giant hands. Looking closely, the leaf ninja could see scars covering the whole of his left hand.

"Perhaps another time?" Karma suggested.

Seeing that she wouldn't be getting her way she gave a huff of annoyance and seated herself across Blues lap, curling up and putting her thumb inside her mouth, murmuring incoherent thoughts aloud, specifically about how unicorns had begun to be disrespected by the younger generations.

Everyone watched the woman's back as she did so, half of them shocked by the level of maturity the elder woman was showing whilst the other half just stared non-caringly. After awhile her mumbling stopped and her breathing and heart rate slowed.

"I think it would be all in our best interest if we follow Butterfly-sans example and get some rest." Sai suggested after a moments silence. "It has been a very long day and we will need the rest for tomorrow."

The group of shinobi nodded in agreement, each one muttering their goodnights before slipping into their tents for the night but not before Sakura ordered one of the boys to put the fire out. Both Sai and Kiba looked to Naruto, Naruto groaning with exhaustion. Looking at the empty spots of where the foreign ninja had been only seconds after he had come back out of the tent, they abruptly left and went inside their own big tent. Staring at the tent he went over his current thoughts of the group.

'_They talk really fancy-like and there's something about them all individually.'_ Naruto narrowed his eyes in deep thought. _'__These guys are a mystery, e__specially that weird lady. There__'s something about her, something I just can't quite put my finger on.__ Not to mention this mission, there__'s something I don't like about this but I just don't know how to explain it.__'_

A "whoo" of an owl broke Naruto's line of thought. Naruto looked at the still blazing fire before looking around for something to put the fire out with but to no avail. So doing the only thing that came to mind he did it. Zipping down his pants he released a long string of urine, with a happy sigh of relief, onto the diminishing fire. He was glad he hadn't gone earlier having been far too hungry to stop for a quick relief. Surprisingly enough he had managed to extinguish the entire fire. Shaking off any excess drip he re-zipped his pants and began heading to his tent.

"Do boys wash their hands after a piss?"

Naruto jumped in the air with a slight yelp, turning around to find Butterfly standing there with her arms crossed and her mask refitted. Had she been there the entire time he was taking a leak? A flush of embarrassment and nervousness covered his face.

"Are you going to answer me or leave me to die forever curious?" Butterfly purred.

"Um…weren't you asleep?" he finished lamely.

"Interesting change of subject," she said sarcastically. "Yes I _was_. Now since I've answered my question how about you answer yours?"

Naruto was left stuttering, this was by far the most awkward conversation he had ever encountered. He was hopping that by some off random chance an enemy shinobi would ambush them just so he could escape the current talk.

Seeing as he wasn't about to answer, the masked woman decided to be nice and just let the whole thing go by talking of an entirely different subject.

"Bit of an idiot aren't you?"

"What did you say?" Naruto growled his embarrassment along with his nervousness now long forgotten.

"You really need to clean your ears out kid."

"Hey don't patronize me!"

"Big word for such a little boy and I mean that in more ways than one." She gestured towards his pants, ignoring the ice-cold glare she was receiving.

Naruto's eyes were narrowed dangerously at the smug looking woman, his thoughts on beating the woman to a bloody pulp swirling dangerously in his head. This woman knew which buttons to press and he struggled with control over his fists, trying desperately to keep his arms and legs at bay.

"You were dropped as baby weren't you kid? Would explain a lot…well some things anyway," she continued to mock. "I wonder if that sorry-excuse-for-a village is as pathetic as it is you, wouldn't be surprised if it was. Konohagakure always did harbour A-grade morons-"

Naruto's control finally slipped and he was now only a few centimetres from her, his kunai digging almost dangerously in her neck, small droplets of blood now falling slowly from the new wound. Naruto's eyes were slits; burning with rage.

"Mocking me is one thing, but disrespecting my Village and friends is another," he snarled, "You don't know anything about my village and friends."

The kunoichi tilted her head, her eyes focused on the boys unwavering expression, on the expression that showed absolute loyalty towards his village and friends. She giggled venomously causing the blonde to press the knife slightly deeper, drawing more blood.

"The loyalty you show, what a laugh," she spat. "As admirable as it may be, it will be your downfall."

Naruto drew back in puzzlement.

"Such loyalty to those who are precious to you, while an admirable feature, it is also the one thing that will lead you even quicker to your death, in more ways than one."

"W-what do you mean?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Exactly what I am saying."

Turning around she walked back to her tent, her body disappearing from sight in just a few steps as the shadows covered her like a cocoon, leaving Naruto to stare at the spot she had been only seconds ago.

"_The loyalty you show,__ what a laugh. As admirable as it may be, it will be your downfall.__"_

* * *

><p><strong>Please review critically with one positive comment.<strong>

**Please acknowledge in anyform that you are reading my story as it will help further my writing in being completed faster and in turn allowing you to read more chapters of the story, all of which will hopefully meet you standards.**

**I deeply apologise for not having published this faster than planned.**

**Many thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

It was morning and dark clouds filled the skies just as Chouko's merry songs filled the air as she skipped happily from tree branch to tree branch; her energy seemingly endless to everyone who was meters behind her, straining to catch up with her. Perspiration began to cover their foreheads as they strived to match her pace.

"How does she do it?" Sakura sighed with exhaustion, "She has more energy than even Naruto!"

"Yeah, and that's saying something," Kiba agreed. "This chick has the energy of a kid on sugar rush. Is she always like this?" he asked flame-colored masked man.

Blaze shrugged, "Let's put it this way, it's a rarity to not see her this way," he paused for a second then chuckled lowly in his chest. "You should see her on Thursday's. Her energy is double the amount that you see now." The others tried not to imagine it.

Still jumping from branch to branch, Blaze didn't miss the feeling of a heated gaze boring into the back of his head.

"Wouldn't you know," Mime murmured darkly under his breath, a surprising characteristic that didn't seem possible for the small usual stuttering boy.

Behind Mime, Karma placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a small tight squeeze in a sign of warning.

The leaf ninja watched the full of this and looked on with it in confusion. With Mime's tone it seemed obvious enough that Mime wasn't all too fond of Blaze, and why? That question would continue to plague their minds.

There was that same feeling that continued to course through them all about the foreign ninja that once again put all of them on edge and yet was able to draw themselves to them with curiosity. Mysteries and secrets seemed to entangle themselves around the group and whether or not they would get any answers was another mystery all in its self.

Tilting his head over his shoulder, Blaze spoke with an incredible amount of venom. "Hold your tongue, brattling, or I will be forced to remove it." Turning his head straight again, the burning sensation only increased from the back of his head; Blaze smirked throughout the entire ordeal.

The leaf ninja exchanged brief glances with one another before settling themselves back into the constant merry singing of Chouko's voice;

_Sweet butterfly, Sweet butterfly  
>Where've you been all this time?<br>My Lady, My Lady,  
>Up there in the sky.<br>The sun on my wings, the wind through my wings,  
>Freely they flap, that of my wings.<em>

_Sweet Butterfly, Sweet Butterfly  
>Why won't you come down?<br>My Lady, My Lady,  
>I can't touch the ground.<br>The soil is littered, the water is tainted.  
>The earth that you live on has been more than out-dated.<em>

_Sweet Butterfly, My Butterfly  
>Share with me your wings.<br>My Lady, My Lady,  
>To ask is a sin.<br>Your hands are all dirty, my wings they are pure  
>Your touch it will harm me, of that I am sure.<em>

The leaf group stared in awe.

"She's a wonderful singer," Hinata complimented.

"Yes, indeed. I've never heard a more beautiful voice," Sai commented, turning to Sakura with a smile, he said, "Sakura-san, you could learn from Butterfly-san's singing and maybe then your voice wouldn't sound like nails scratching against our ear-drums."

Sakura's face took a deep shade of red, whether from embarrassment or anger no one knew, and all had the sense to keep their distance from the enraged woman; except from Sai who still seemed oblivious of her anger. His consequence for both the insult and not having the common sense to move away was a fist hurtling his way and sending him flying off his feet through branches and beyond the care-free Chouko.

Deep satisfaction covered Sakura's face whilst fear and stunned shock took hold of the others around her.

"A dangerous one that youngling is," Karma murmured.

"That was nothing; you should see her when she's _really_ mad!" Naruto whispered to him, not wanting to gain unwanted attention from his teammate, "Which hopefully you'll never see, but I doubt it, Sakura-chan is _always_ mad!"

"N-Naruto-kun, that isn't true!" Hinata whispered back in protest. "Sakura-chan isn't a-always mad."

"Hinata's right Naruto," Kiba chimed in. "Besides, the only reason you think she's angry all the time is because you're usually the one who _makes_ her angry _all the time_."

"Do not!" Naruto protested

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!

"DO NOT!"

"Would you two shut up!"

Naruto and Kiba immediately stopped their squabbling and cowered in fear as Sakura's green eyes glared daggers into  
>the depths of their hearts.<p>

Swallowing nervously, Kiba whispered from the side of his mouth in a low voice,

"Do too."

Kiba barely dodged a kunai.

* * *

><p>"What a fuckin' dump." Chouko stated blandly.<p>

No one agreed and no one protested, only stared once more at the astonishing sight before them. Just like the past village they had been through houses were burnt and turned to rubble. The only major difference between both villages was the air, as it did not smell as heavily of ash as it had in the previous village, also, the earth nor rivers had been littered with any decaying bodies, showing that obviously nobody had been present or harmed during the invasion of the attack.

Rain began to poor and mixed with the loose dirt, quickly forming mud. Quickly, the shinobi sped out from under the rain to burnt side of a house. Its roof was still standing whilst the walls had been knocked or burnt down, providing the shinobi with easy access to what little shelter was provided.

Minutes passed and before long so did the hours; as well as their patience.

"Where the fuck are they?" Chouko screeched in annoyance.

"Butterfly-sama, please, be patient," Karma tried to sooth her. "Also, I must request that you watch such vulgar language around the little ones."

"Who're you calling little?" The latter of the leaf ninja yelled.

Ignoring this, Chouko replied, "But we've been here for hours and don't even get me started on how cold I am," she huffed. "I swear that it's so cold right now, if i wanted to take a piss I'd piss out icicle chopsticks!" Chouko paused for a moment, "...Imagine that…" her words trailed off softly near the end, her head tilted.

Hearing that she was cold Blue came up from behind her and wrapped his gigantic cloak around her and himself, buttoning it up as to keep her warm. Chouko sighed contently and snuggled into the warmth Blue provided her.

"Mmm, so warm," she mused happily before bursting into a set of giggles.

Blue gave a soft grunt, his head looking down at her small form.

"I must agree with Butterfly-sama here," Blaze said, "and wonder also where these _friends _of yours are."

"They'll be here," Sakura confirmed firmly.

Another hour passed and a new sound echoed through the rain; footsteps passing quickly through the puddles and mud, weaving themselves through the fallen bricks and wood. Akamaru sniffed the air and began barking.

"What is it boy, you smell something?" Kiba asked his companion.

Akamaru barked a few times.

A grin spread over Kiba's face, "Yahoo! Hey guys come on, we've got company, let's go!"

Naruto's expression and enthusiasm mirrored Kiba's. "Alright! They're finally here!"

Both men and dog took off in a rush, eager to go see their fellow comrades and their friends. The others followed quickly behind- Chouko still amongst the warmth of Blue's cloak and body.

"Wait up you guys!" Sakura yelled out to them, but in the end she just sighed, grinning as well as she trailed behind them like the rest.

As they reached the village centre, they were met with three groups of shinobi; altogether there were 7 of them.

"Bushy-brow! Bushy-brow-sensei! I didn't expect to see you guys here!" Naruto exclaimed to two of the ninja.

Chouko gazed at the two men in question with astonishment, which was an amazing feat in its self as it was so rare for it to be caught off guard that it was nigh impossible. They were completely identical, the only difference being the obvious signs of one being older due to the small height difference and also the fact that the shorter one's arms were covered in bandages. Both were dressed in tight leaf-green jumpsuit that fully represented their muscles, a chunin vest and orange leg warmers. Their headbands were around their waist acting as a belt and their black shining hair was styled into a bowl-cut. What really got Chouko's eyes widening wasn't their attire- well some of it anyway- but it was their eyebrows; they were just so big and thick and hairy! Chouko couldn't help but relate them to overgrown fuzzy caterpillars.

The older of the two gave a deep and hearty laugh, "My, my, Naruto, you sure are slacking aren't ya my boy?" He shook his head. "A great ninja- like one such as myself- must always expect the unexpected."

A loud clap of thunder soared through the darkened clouds, causing the elder of the two look-alikes to jump in shock.

"And one must also look for shelter from the rain. Come, there is a cave not so far from here that would be very convenient for us all. We can discuss matters and necessities there," a light yet deep voice rang out.

Chouko didn't see who it was that had spoken, nor had she bothered to observe any other of the new seven. Her focus was so transfixed on both the green look-a-like's eyebrows that she wasn't aware of being lifted slightly off her feet and carried in Blue's slight out-stretched arms or when she was placed on his lap near a warm bright fire.

Unconsciously, Chouko's mind began to work on its own accord, causing her to crawl slowly in an almost child-like manner into the direction of both the look-a-likes who sat with their legs crossed. Both of them turned to her as she inched herself closer, a look of confusion on their faces.

"Butterfly-sama, what are you doing?" Blaze questioned.

"Can we, uh, help you…Miss?" The older man asked before yelping in pain.

"Gai-sensei! Hey, just what do you think you're-Ow!" The younger one followed the cry of his master.

"Butterfly-sama! Release them!" Karma scolded the oblivious woman.

"Blue, get her off the man," Blaze ordered lazily, gesturing to the still transfixed woman who had grabbed a fuzzy eyebrow from both men in each hand, tugging and pulling it as if to see it were real. Blue nodded and stood up, striding over to his captain and reaching out for her.

"So fuzzy and so very warm," Chouko said in a trance, "Do you shave them during summer when it gets hot and then re-grow them in the winter so you keep warm?" she wondered, still tugging at the furry brows.

Neither one could answer, both clearly stunned to the point of confusion, so much so that it clouded the pain they felt as Chouko continued to pull and grab at one of their thick eyebrows.

Naruto blinked before cupping his chin with one hand and looking very thoughtfully, "You know that's a good question." He regretted the words as a searing pain spread throughout the back of his head.

Fortunately or unfortunately enough, Blue's massive hand wrapped fully around Chouko's small wrists and pulled at them until both brows and hands were separated, however, during the process her grip had been firm and as Blue was pulling her wrist he was inevitably causing them more pain.

Thankful for finally being released, both twins kept their distance from the crazed woman, who was staring at her hands at the eyebrow hair she had managed to pull out.

Tilting her head and giggling, Chouko examined the brow-hairs thoroughly, unable to identify whether the long strands were actually real and whether the lights were playing tricks on her; she was certain that she could see hair growing on hair growing on hair.

The surrounding shinobi stared at her, their expressions unreadable.

Chouko turned her attention away from her focus point and turned to Karma as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Butterfly-sama," he said briefly pausing, staring at her intently from behind his mask. He was tempted into asking her to apologise for her rude behaviour, or at least take notice of her wrong doing, but held his tongue as he knew it would be a waste of breath. With a sigh he turned his attention to the shocked duo and gave a low bow. "On behalf of my captain, Butterfly-sama, I give you both a sincere apology. Butterfly-sama is a curious one and this usually brings about her carelessness to others. Do you accept this apology, Gai-san and…forgive me, I never got you name."

"Rock Lee, at your service," the younger twin spoke with enthusiasm and seriousness, giving Karma a sharp and quick salute.

Karma nodded, "Lee-san. Please accept my apology on behalf of my captain, Gai-san and Lee-san."

"My good woman, there is nothing to forgive," Gai said with a grin despite the aching in his brows. "Your captain was merely infatuated with our devilishly, handsome good looks."

"Gai-sensei is right, one cannot help their curiosity! Is it not knowledge that we wish to fill our minds with?" Lee said with just as much passion. "Fair Lady, you needn't offer us any apologies."

"Spoken like a true poet Lee," Gai praised.

"Thank you Gai-sensei! Your praises fill me with joy."

For once, Karma could feel his calm exterior slip away from, the tips of his ears burning with red. "I am a man," Karma said, trying desperately to keep his voice calm and even.

Gai and Lee looked taken back, giving one another a brief glance before turning to Karma back with confusion and disbelief.

"Wait, you're a man?" Gai asked uncertainly, believing this all to be a hoax.

Karma slowly nodded.

"...Are you sure?"

Another slow nod.

"You're not mistaking _anything_ for two large boils down there, are you?"

"No." The answer came out strained.

"Oh, well, uh, sorry about that friend. The long hair and feminine body was a little misleading."

Karma remained silent and unmoving.

Gai gave a nervous laugh before mumbling under his breath, none to quietly, "Sheesh, talk about false advertisement." Loudly he said, "Oh well, no harm, no foul!"

"Honestly Gai, the deep voice didn't give it away?" A leaf ninja's voice drawled out.

"I just assumed it had something to do with puberty gone wrong or something along those lines," Gai shrugged.

Chouko snorted with a laugh (having finally removed her attention to the conversation) and watched as Karma tried desperately to cling onto whatever calmness he had left. In no more than 5 minutes these men had managed to crack into, what Chouko liked to call, 'Karma's impenetrable calm-shield'.

Chouko couldn't blame the two; Karma's feminine appearance didn't exactly help represent himself as a man. It wasn't until one could hear his voice could they put two and two together. She had remembered when the first group of leaf ninja had seen him and then heard him. Their eyes had been filled with slight shock but they had quickly recovered. These two did not, however.

From the corner of her mask Chouko could see the new figures shake their head with shame and embarrassment towards their comrade- Gai. Tilting her head in their direction she asked, "So, who the fuck are you homos?"

Anger spiked up in the air but Chouko was oblivious to it all.

"You'd better watch it, brat," a deep female voice hissed. The angry female was an older female duplicate of Kiba; having the same markings on her face as Kiba. Her lips that curled up in a sneer were covered in dark purple, revealing sharp white canines bared at Chouko. Growling beside her was an adult canine with a wolf like appearance. His fur was black with a white underside, his left ear missing, and an eye-patch covered his right eye. The signs were obvious that she was an Inuzuka.

"Don't worry ma," intervened Kiba, "This is probably the best we've seen her attitude."

"Yeah, believe me, this Lady can be a _re-al bitch!"_

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded.

"It's true!"

Chouko pouted, crossing her arms. "It's very rude to talk about someone when they're right there in front of you!"

"Rude? Say's the Lady who openly mocked us and our village!" Naruto seethed with rage.

"Yeah, but I said that to your face," she pointed out in a victorious voice. "I wasn't a coward by doing it behind your back."

"That doesn't exactly make you a saint!"

"No," Chouko agreed. "That just makes me special."

"Special needs."

"Special needs that a boy of your size can never hope to fulfil."

"You're a sick twisted old Lady!"

"And you're a little boy who's dick is the size of a toothpick," she retorted examining her nails. "An atom is bigger than that sorry excuse for a _thing _you call a dick."

By now, Naruto's face was flushed red from anger, a cloak of anger shrouding his entire being evident. Sai and Kiba grabbed onto each shoulder, Sakura and Hinata held his waist, and Akamaru grabbed his lower leg by the pants with his teeth. All held on tightly as the blonde struggled to attack careless woman.

After a long scolding and lecture from Sakura, Naruto sat behind the group; anger and loathing still evident in his eyes. Sakura turned to the woman still in Blue's arms with a frown.

"Naruto's not the only one at fault here," Sakura said. "You are too. You need to stop antagonizing him, because I can guarantee that the next time you do, we won't be able to hold him back."

Chouko shrugged and Sakura's frown deepened and like so many times before, silence encircled them.

"Perhaps, maybe…" Hinata trailed off.

Kiba turned to her, "What is it?"

"Well, I was just thinking that maybe we should all get acquainted better with one another," Hinata replied. "Afterall, we're all going to be working with one another, and they don't know the rest of us," Hinata gestured from the foreign ninja to the group of comrades that surrounded her.

Everyone nodded.

"If that is the case, then please," said Karma standing up, "allow us to go first."

Karma encountered no objection and so took it as a sign to continue.

"Greetings, fellow shinobi, I am known as Karma. This one beside me is known as Blue; please note that he does not socially inter-react with others and so will use hand gestures and motions to speak."

Blue gave a soft grunt in what they took as a greeting.

"I-I am Mime," said the quiet boy, squirming a bit under the many eyes. "I, um, look forward to working with you."

"You will refer to me as Blaze," he repeated what he had told the leaf ninja on their first encounter.

"I'm Butterfly…and also really horny right now. Who wants a quickie?" Her voice was hopeful.

Blue tightened his arms around the female. They stared at one another in silent communication. Breaking mask- to- mask contact Chouko shrugged and snuggled deeper into Blue's warmth.

"Well as you all know, I am Might Gai!" Gai said oblivious to the stunned silence that had passed through.

"And I am Rock Lee!"

Behind the two, a ninja with fair skin stood with a straight composure. His hair was muck like Karma's and his eyes were exact replicas of Hinata's and the elder identical man's eyes—who was also in similar appearance; Chouko began to see a pattern forming with all these ninja. He was clothed in a white shirt with loose sleeves along with matching pants, a dark navy grey apron tied around his waist. A black drawstring bag tied around his shoulder back.

"I am Neji Hyuuga." His voice was calm and smooth as he spoke. "Gai-sensei, Lee and I make up squad one, to which one of your own will be forming along with us."

"The name's Tsume Inuzuka," the female who had snapped at Chouko moments ago snapped once again, clearly still angry from the earlier comment. "This here is Kurumaru," She gestured her furry companion who huffed in the closet thing to greeting. "Kurumaru an' me, Kiba an' Akamaru, along with Hinata are to make up squad 2. One of you runts is supposed to accompany us as well."

"Shino Aburame." The name was short and abrupt. Shino was a tall boy and towered over the younger of the shinobi. His skin was pale, which was barely notable due to the hoody and collar that shrouded his face, few strands of dark brown hair lay sprawled on his forehead protector. "Sakura, Sai, the both of you, along with the assistance of another," he looked at the foreigners, "shall accompany me and form squad 3."

Sai and Sakura nodded in compliance.

"I am Hiashi Hyuuga," said the man similar in appearance as Neji. The only difference between the two was his face was broader and older than Neji's, the look of wisdom running a little bit more deeply in his pale lavender eyes.

"Shibi Aburame." What looked to be an older version of the boy who dubbed himself as Shino stepped into the reaching light of the fire's flames, though there were small differences between the two, such as a small moustache circling around the top of the older man's mouth, age had enclosed the man, a certain roughness that seemed to be etched into his skin. He was also taller than Shino by a few centimetres, and while a bag was attached to Shino's back a large gourd was strapped securely across his own. "Hiashi, Naruto and I will form squad 4. Two of you will accompany us."

"Alright then," Blaze said after a few seconds, "Who goes where?"

"We don't know."

"…You're shitting me, right?"

"No."

"…Well how are we going to sort this out?"

"We were told that one of you exceled in tracking," interjected Hiashi, "That person will join with squad 1 along with another. The rest of you will have to explain what you excel in and from there we will sort out groups. So first off, which of you is this tracker we have heard of?"

The foreign ninja looked amongst one another and then all raised their hands. Hiashi was quiet for a moment.

"…okay then," Hiashi sighed. "Who wasn't supposed to have been here for this mission?"

All but Chouko raised their hands.

"Alright then, Butterfly-san, you shall be the one to accompany us."

"Say what?" Naruto screamed.

Chouko slipped out of Blue's grasp and merrily skipped over to Naruto and pulled him into a hug, planting his face in the middle of her…assets in a suffocating way. Face having gone bright red, Naruto tried to escape from her embrace but her grasp was iron.

"We're going to have lots and lots of fun," Chouko giggled.

"Let go of me!"

Ignoring the protesting boy, the others continued sorting into groups.

"My skills reside further in tactician and strategy," Karma voiced out, "I find that I will be most useful should any problems present itself." Karma gestured towards the massive man sitting beside him near the fire. "Blue's tracking skills is just below Butterfly-sama's. Reading an enemy's tracks comes habitual to him. His abilities will be of great use."

Lazily Blaze said, "I'm more of a head front kind of guy, exceling in both long and short range attacks among many  
>other things." Letting his head roll towards Mime he gestured for Mime to speak out.<p>

It took a small nudge from Blue to get Mime speak. His head dipped and both hands wrestled each other. Speaking nervously, he said, "I know not of h-how much use I can be of u-use to you, but I promise to do my best."

Each leaf ninja gave the small boy a smile, instantly calming his wrestling hands, his shoulders no longer hunched but levelled.

Discussing amongst themselves the leaf ninja quickly sorted through groups (with the exception of Naruto who was still being suffocated).

"Karma-san, I think it would be best if you would come with me and squad 1," Neji said. "We'll need someone with your skills. We are in need of finding much more information, we have heard claims that there used to be a clan that lived on the outskirts of the Land of Stars, we believe that this clan has a certain connection to Azura."

Karma was silent for a while before reluctantly nodding in acceptance of his fate. Neji looked at the man with sympathy, completely understanding the masked man's reluctance to join with him and his teammates.

"Blue," the alias rolled almost mockingly off of the elder Inuzuka's tongue, "You'll be accompanying us. You got it?"

Blue stared at the woman before giving out a small grunt from his chest, seemingly not at all fazed by the elder woman's feral smirk of flashing eyes.

Shino's gaze directed towards Blaze, "You will accompany us."

Blaze gave a small puff of amusement.

"Not one for words are you boy?"

Shino didn't answer.

Naruto- having finally pulled himself away from the suffocating embrace- strolled over to Mime and casually wrapped an arm around his shoulders, a large grin spread across his face.

"Guess that leaves you with us," Naruto said.

Mime relaxed underneath the blonde ninja's touch. It was a nice feeling, it wasn't unpleasant, uncomfortable and id didn't hurt. It was warm, a feeling that Mime had once forgotten but now gladly remembered. He hadn't felt this in ages.

Naruto noticed the tension leave from Mime's body, and if possible smiled even wider.

"…Homos," Chouko said.

Though Naruto's smile remained, his eyes glared profoundly at the dark haired woman, the tension throughout his body becoming noticeable to Mime.

Waiting until the rain had eventually stopped, everyone continued to talk between themselves, making light conversation.

Eventually the rain became lighter as did the colour of the clouds, a faint brush of cold wind still lingering in the air but having calmed a bit.

"The rain is finally starting to settle. It's time to make our move," Hiashi said.

Everyone nodded in agreement, standing up and gathering their belongings. Having extinguished their one source of warmth they headed towards the cave entrance.

"Good luck you guys. Be careful out there," Sakura said to them all.

"You too Sakura," everyone bid each other farewell and left in different directions, some within the trees, and the others afoot. As they travelled even further the faint silhouette that enabled them to see one another slowly began to fade away till eventually not even a speck of them was seen.

Throughout the entire ordeal of meeting the new squads and joining them, bitter thoughts lingered through the dark haired kunoichi's mind sending rolls of anger coursing throughout her veins. However, as she concluded her last thought a small genuine smile came to her lips.

"_Soon,_" were her thoughts,_ "very soon."_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Sorry for the<em>**_ **delay.**_


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the delay.

I would also like to apologise for the inconvenience i have caused. I had previously created this same story but had it deleted, my computer had been acting up and had caused a lot of files to be destroyed and/or hindered, this is why the previous stories were deleted.

I hope you enjoy my story.

Please note that all copyrights belong to Masasshi Kishimoto. The characters Chouko and Mime belong to me.

* * *

><p>Chouko reared to the left as a flying kick swung for her head, quickly grabbing onto a nearby branch and swinging herself on top. A sharp point poked at her neck.<p>

"You're fast," she said to the ninja behind her, "but-"

The cloaked ninja's grip on the kunai slackened before he gradually fell backwards towards the ground, multiple senbon embedded in his back.

"-not as fast as I am."

Chouko grinned happily from behind her mask but then pouted as she looked at the body below her. She was a bit disappointed in her attacker, she was hoping he would be tougher, she had always like a good challenge but was usually met with disappointment.

Jumping down from the tree and to the ground she cocked her head to the side as continued to study body for a moment. Kneeling next to the body Chouko began to roll up her over-hung sleeves until they were piled to the top of her shoulders and then began to inspect it, peeling the cloth from his face. Ignoring the arriving leaf shinobi and her subordinate she quickly began to strip the ninja to nought.

"What are you doing?" she heard Naruto's voice from behind her.

Chouko ignored him and continued to strip the deceased.

"U-usually, the state in which a b-body is in can tell Butterfly-sama, um, certain aspects of the person; Where the person has been, what the person has done and vice versa," Mime said in Chouko's place.

Naruto whistled low, "Wow."

"We want to continue on the path we were currently on, cautiously." she suddenly stated.

"What makes you say that?" Hiashi questioned.

"For starters, this man wouldn't have attacked me if I wasn't about to stumble along something he wouldn't deem important. Now the fact is he did attack me," she replied.

"Bandits and Rogue ninja come along these parts all the time and attack any who take their fancy, what's to say he wasn't one of them?"

"Bandits attack in groups all the time; they are never too far behind the other. If others were with him they would have shown up by now, their ignorance submits them to always under-estimate their opponents even if they see another of their kind being beat to a bloody pulp, so despite the obvious odds we should have encountered them."

"And he isn't a Rogue ninja because…?"

"He is the sexiest man I've ever seen."

"…Excuse me?" Hiashi said, wondering if he had heard right.

"Honestly, how many good-looking Rogue ninja's do you get that don't look like they've been eating shit for the past 10 years?"

Chouko's gaze roamed over the naked man, her eyes stopping to stare heavily at the rippled muscles he possessed. He was a young boy compared to her- no older than 19- his lifeless eyes the colour of deep blue ponds, his complexion sharp and flawless.

"If you were alive and I was 10 years younger I'd let you ravish me anywhere-"

"Eww! Come on Lady, please!" Naruto pleaded, hands cupping his ears.

"You're right…I'd screw him regardless of my age."

"This is your leader?" Naruto deadpanned to Mime who shrugged in response.

"Can we get back on topic, please?"

"Oh yeah, this man's chakra was suppressed, there's no way he could have been a ninja," Chouko added, standing to an upright position.

"Suppressed?" Shibi repeated, "What do you mean by that?"

"Suppressed, meaning that something was blocking his chakra flow?" Hiashi pondered.

Chouko rolled her eyes. _Question, questions, questions_, that's all she ever got from leaf ninja. Chouko was tempted to tell them to 'fuck off' and to get on their knees and try to question her caramel coloured as-

"Butterfly-san?"

"In a manner of speaking," Chouko finally replied. "Basically, we're all born with chakra flow though being able to access it is the main point. As ninja we are all trained by an early age to access this flow, leaving it until adulthood would be futile as it would be harder to exercise the channel to expand big enough for even a small percentage of chakra to flow through."

"Channel? Exercise? What are you on about?" Naruto asked.

Chouko sighed, mumbling incoherently to herself before turning her attention back to the confused blonde. "Think of our Channel like a kunai-"

"A kunai?-OW!" Naruto rubbed the throbbing pain delivered to his head.

"Stop repeating everything I say, but most of all stop interrupting it's disrespectful towards the speaker," Chouko said lowering her arm back to her side. Resting her head to the side she continued, "But yes, a kunai. Say one of my favourite kunai slowly had rust forming, if I was to leave cleaning it to three or more so years it would be harder for me to clean because of the level of thickness of rust my kunai would have developed over time. Though had I cleaned it from the very beginning it would have been easier to remove as there wasn't much cleaning needed. Now do you get it?"

"Yeah, I think so. Basically our channel that allows chakra to flow through it from the time we're born isn't open because there's a small layer of something that's blocking it, right?"

"But if we train from when we're little we can open it really easily because in a way we're cleaning away the stuff blocking the flow, but if we leave it for too long then there'll be too much of it that in the end it becomes nearly impossible," Mime concluded.

"Then the question we are left with is 'who is he'?" Shibi said.

"He's a farmer boy, if you look at his muscles you can see that he does more hand work than overall exercise. Muscle proportions of a farmer compared to a ninja's are a lot more different. He also smells heavily of horse-shit." Chouko stated.

"A farmer all the way out here? When there's neither a town nor farm in sight for miles?"

Chouko nodded, "What's even stranger is that not only did he manage to keep up to a Jounin speed level when attacking me, but the tattoo across his entire back. I've come across a lot of tattoos in my lifetime; clan tattoos, friendship tattoos, kiddy tattoos, gang tattoos, jutsu tattoos- the whole pack. This one, however, I've not seen one that looks even remotely like this."

Turning the body onto his stomach, Chouko showed them the tattoo. A large leaf shape was diagonally positioned on the middle of his back, a kanji placed within it like a slit shaped pupil in an eye. Multiple large, thick commas surrounded the eye as if it were a vortex that slowly circled into the eye-like shape.

"That Kanji, what does it mean?" Mime asked.

"Shadow," Shibi answered. "That would mean we're on the right path to Azura. Butterfly-san, in which direction did he come from?"

Chouko hesitated, rocking on her heels with her hands placed thoughtfully across her mask, "He appeared from the bushes here from where he fell, however, I sensed his presence before he attacked. We're looking somewhere along South West."

Hiashi and Shibi exchanged a look with one another. Hiashi nodded and stepped forward, eyes closed before reopening with an intense look, veins popping out from around his eyes.

"There are holes that have been dug up a few miles up ahead, other than that there is no one in sight," Hiashi said.

"What'dya know? They must be expecting us, let's go pay them a visit," Chouko said cheerfully.

Humming softly she began to skip through the trees towards the dug up holes. Before she could take another step Hiashi stopped her.

"Hold on a minute. Before you go on by yourself let's just be clear about something. None of us will go out by ourselves. We work together as a team, that means that if you want to go somewhere we speak about it as a team, and then, if allowed to proceed, you have someone go with you," he said.

"He's right, and this is coming from me. There's something I don't like about this whole thing and it's getting to the point where I'm getting riddled with the bijibies," Naruto said.

"I can look after myself, thank you very much," Chouko replied snobbishly, continuing down the path.

"Hey!" Grabbing her arm with amazing speed he twisted her around to face him. What was it with everyone grabbing her? "What did we just finish saying!?"

Striving to keep the anger and sarcasm out of her voice she replied, "Well you already knew where I was going, and _were_ about to follow me-"

"Do you really think we're all just going to follow you at your every whim?" he yelled.

Shibi placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Easy," he said.

Reluctantly Naruto dropped her arm and took a step back.

"Hiashi and Naruto are right; we must all be prudent in our actions, therefore we need to consider our actions wisely," Shibi gave her, what seemed to be, a hard long look. "As Naruto previously stated, we will not follow you blindly as you assume. Instead, you will follow our directions as was your order and our own."

Chouko remained quiet although inside she was seething with rage. How dear they! It was bad enough that she was stuck with these low-grade morons, but to be reminded that she had to act within the boundaries they set for her made her blood run hot. Oh how she wanted to break their necks, to drown in the wonderful feeling of blood drenching her body- especially the Aburame's!

"We will check for any possible threats before entering," Hiashi said.

A swarm of insects made its way from out of Shibi's gourd and scattered into the direction of the dug holes. Chouko twitched as a few of them brushed past her. When the insects returned they circled around their master for a while until he gave a small nod and returned once again into the gourd, awaiting their master's next command.

"There are no traps or possible enemies," Shibi stated. "I would still advise that we still move with caution."

Expecting to hear some form of sarcastic retort the small group turned their attentions to the masked woman but was met with surprising silence.

"Butterfly-sama?" Mime said while studying his captain, his tone full of worry.

Without a word Chouko leapt off into the trees, Mime quickly on her heels and the others following with quizzical thoughts.

When reaching the holes, instead of joining the exploration, Chouko stood back with arms tightly crossed as she watched the leaf ninja study the holes.

"There's a faint trace of chakra stemming from these holes," Hiashi informed them with his Byakugan. "There are traces of shredded paper as well…"

"I'll get it!" Naruto grinned and was just about to jump in.

"No!"

Hands wrapped themselves around the blonde's waist before he could impact with the ground and hurriedly pulled him out. Naruto, confused and annoyed, turned around to question the person who had stopped him but instantly froze up and went pale.

"W-what the?" Naruto breathed.

What had stopped him were hands, but not the hands of his current teammates. These were long pale hands that stretched for meters, and the fact that they belonged to no body (literally), scared him white. The hands were a deathly pale with a cold touch to them and a strong rotting stench emitted from them. These were hands of death and Naruto was in them.

Panic rose through his body, his stomach churning from the touch alone. Just where the hell did these things come from? The hands released him and receded back from where they came; they receded back into one of Mime's unravelled scrolls.

"Are you alright Uzumaki-san?" Mime asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah, sure," Naruto stuttered. "What the hell was that?"

"Tis a special jutsu of mine," he replied, rolling the scroll and re-adjusting it back onto his leg with the other two scrolls. "Forgive me if I caused you discomfort, but I did not think you would have enjoyed playing within the ditch."

Naruto blinked, "Huh? How come?"

"Idiot, didn't you listen to a thing that bug-eyed friend of yours just said? There are faint traces of chakra coming from the holes, and if you had taken a moment to consider this you would have realised that there was a probability that it would have affected you badly," Chouko scolded, hands firmly on her hips. Turning her attention to the holes she stared, "…also…" she trailed off.

"What is it?" Hiashi asked.

"…these holes weren't dug up," she said, "the dirt is callously tossed around all over the place from here to the trees; none of it is stacked up in what would be a normal approach when digging."

"She's right," Shibi said, "and look at the way the edges of the holes spring out on an outward lean."

"Something broke out of these holes."

The ninja took a while to process the information and ponder over the mysteries presented to them.

"Oh man, just what the hell is going on here?"

* * *

><p>Please review.<p>

Flames are welcome and any other form of criticism. If you are unhappy with anything then please let me know.


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